Community engagement and volunteerism : preparing DUT students as volunteers for a Child and Youth Care Centre in Durban

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and evaluate a training programme to prepare Durban University of Technology (DUT) students as volunteers to work in a partnership relationship with a Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) in Durban. Community Engagement (CE) was introduced as a function of higher education, to enable universities to contribute to the reconstruction of South Africa post-apartheid. As one of the many forms of CE in South African higher education institutions (HEIs), volunteerism has the potential to contribute to transformation and social justice in South Africa. Research and literature on the practices of CE, generally, is limited in the South African context and even more so for volunteerism as a form of CE. The majority of adopted literature is from the Global North, which does not always fit the South African context. This study asked the following research question: what kind of training and preparation do students of a University of Technology (UoT) need prior to volunteering in a community-university partnership project? In order to answer this question, an exploratory and developmental design, qualitative methodology and participatory approach were adopted for this study. The researcher, UoT academic staff and students and the CYCC staff worked together to plan, develop and implement the student volunteer training programme. On completion of the training programme, the students implemented a volunteer task in the form of a holiday programme, which was jointly planned and developed by the student volunteers and staff of the CYCC. The study comprised the following three phases: Phase One: orientation; Phase Two: planning and implementation; and Phase Three: monitoring and evaluation, in order to show the benefits of implementing the participatory approach towards partnership development between a UoT and Child and Youth Care Centre. The orientation phase, included the recruitment and orientation of the participants and highlighted the principles of a community-university partnership (CUP) formed between the UoT and the CYCC. Data collection through focus group interviews in Phase One revealed that participants had ambiguous knowledge about the concepts and theories relevant to CE, volunteerism and CUP. The training programme consequently covered concepts and theories related to CE and volunteerism. Participants’ recommendations for the training programme contributed richly to the study. Phase Two focused on the participatory planning of the volunteer training programme and implementation of the volunteer task. The content for the training programme was derived from literature reviewed and participants input generated in the first phase. Students then completed a three-week training programme. On completion, students conducted the volunteer task, which was a holiday programme with the children at the CYCC. Phase Three monitored and evaluated the prototype of the volunteer training programme in order to provide suggestions for a comprehensive volunteer training programme. Only the student volunteers participated in this phase. The findings showed that the students’ knowledge and skills regarding aspects of CE, volunteerism and CUP increased in both critical and variable ways. Additionally, self-awareness and development of students were also evident and areas of improvement were identified for inclusion in future volunteer training programmes. The findings of this study also affirm the need for in-depth training to facilitate processes that encourage experiential learning and critical thinking prior to students engaging or interacting with communities.